Night Watch
by C.A. Elenath
Summary: A late night talk between siblings-it seems Sky's sister has appointed herself his personal counselor.


**Disclaimer: **_Ree is mine, but Sky isn't-except in favorable hypothetical situations. _

**Notes:**_ This takes place after "Walls". Just to clarify things, all that really needs to be known about Ree right now is (1) she's Sky's sister, and (2) she also has the ability to create forcefields with her mind. Hers are pink. _

**Night Watch**

He stifled a yawn and the blinking, bleeping lights in the dim room immediately blurred as his eyes teared slightly. The true pain in manning the night shift was trying not to go insane from pure boredom; staying up in itself wasn't so bad. The Command Center was quiet and dull, its muted grey-blue tint not at all conducive to good blood flow, but in two minutes, he had to make another round through the hallways of the base. Maybe the movement would help his numbing brain cells fire at a more normal pace and shake off this mental sluggishness. The rounds accomplished about as much as standing here in the Command Center, staring at blinking lights for minutes at a time—there was nothing the security cameras couldn't catch before he did. And yet he had to do them, patrol the halls at regular intervals to make sure there were no intruders in the base, no cadets horsing in the corridors, no alien pets loose in the ventilation system, or whatever the heck came up in these still hours of the night.

The security cameras were really a double-edged sword. Not only did they do his job faster and more efficiently than he did (being the equivalent of two hundred and twenty-four eyes that didn't need sleep), but they kept him from being able to engage in some more stimulating activity. He couldn't read as he patrolled, or fiddle with the handheld starfighter game Bridge had offered him. It was a childish toy, but he had accepted it anyway, thinking even a silly children's game would be better than pacing around the entire base pretending his mind was focused on guarding the absolute nothingness happening around him. Now he didn't dare to bring out the little electronic gadget, not with all those surveillance cameras watching his every move.

Another minute to go. The lights on the control panels didn't seem to blink in any particular pattern, and for that minute he pretended they were targets, like in weapons training. See, sight, shoot. Or sometimes just see and shoot. No hesitation, no thought, not when there was no time for it. That was what he needed right now, a good round of target practice to get his circulation and neurons up to speed. He felt another yawn threatening to surface, and he stifled it again before remembering that yawning was the body's reaction when it needed more oxygen. Damn, how brain cells did he just kill off?

Time. Time to go reading all the signs around the base for the 25th time tonight. He could probably read them with his eyes closed by now.

Sky shook his head. That didn't make any sense at all.

The door slid open with a whir and metallic clang, and he was startled to see a figure slouched against the corridor wall, right leg bent with the foot braced flat against the wall. Her arms were crossed lazily across her chest as she looked at him.

"What are you doing here, Ree?" he asked, unsure of whether he should be annoyed or relieved. Her company would easily be the most stimulating thing he encountered all night, but he really wasn't supposed to be visiting with anyone during night watch.

"Ask a stupid question," his sister shot back, and he realized that he had sounded sterner than he meant to be. "I'm here to see _you_, doofus."

"Now?" Random visits from his boisterous sister weren't unusual, but at three in the morning?

"I heard your pompous ass got you in trouble, and that you were sentenced to late night ghost haunting. I came to revel."

Sky glared at her. "Miserable midget."

"Pleasure's all mine," the petite girl replied, pushing herself off from the wall. "Want some company?"

"Night watch isn't a time for socializing, Ree."

His sister just shrugged, unperturbed as usual by his strict manner. "I wasn't taking no for an answer anyway. Besides, you don't _socialize_. You just use your vocal cords when it suits your purpose. Talking on night watch isn't against regulation, is it?"

"I think there's an exception when it comes to pesty midgets."

"Did I just hear a gibe? Why am I the only one to get any humor out of you? Why the walls, Sky?"

The Blue Ranger sighed inwardly, pinned by his sister's piercing stare though it was so far below his own. Ree barely reached his underarm—she was even shorter than their diminutive Pink Ranger—and yet the power she had over him was disproportionately large. When she spoke, he had to listen. She was the only one he could admit his faults to because she knew how to hand them back to him without making him feel like a screw-up. He cared about her and what she thought of him, and yet he felt the least judgment in her eyes, the least expectation. That delicate combination was the true source of her influence over him, something he could never seem to find in anyone else. He was very sure of himself and yet there were some days he didn't want to know what went on in people's minds when they looked at him.

"You know perfectly well why." He began walking down the hallway, thirty seconds late in beginning this round of walkabout patrol. Ree trotted right alongside him, needing one and a half steps to match every one of his long strides. "We've had this conversation a million times before."

"Then we're having it again," his sister's voice allowed no argument. "How many more times do you want to end up on night watch?"

"It won't happen again."

"Like hell it won't."

"Watch your language, midget. It's disrespectful and inappropriate conduct for a cadet."

"I'm a cadet with insomnia. It happens."

"You couldn't sleep?"

"Don't change the subject."

"Because I trust you, you insufferable pipsqueak."

"And you don't trust your fellow Rangers?"

"Some of them…"

"No shit, Mr. Holmes. Metal walls carry heated arguments very far. I didn't mean in battle. I meant with you. Even Syd and Bridge, your longtime teammates…you won't let them in. You don't really consider them friends, do you?"

"I don't care. I don't need friends."

Ree smiled. "See, any _normal _person that said that would've been sent to the funny house a long time ago. You're lucky they need you here."

Her smile threw him. It usually meant that she was seeing right through him and was amused by what she saw. He didn't like being so transparent, and it annoyed him that he could think of no response that wouldn't make her smile widen as if to say _No duh._

"I'm not about to argue rank with you," she continued, and received a sharp, withering glare for it. All day he had been reprimanded on the subject; he _really _didn't want to hear about it again.

"It was a strange decision, from the popular belief perspective. I know most people think Red is the greatest, the living history, the earthshaker, the baddest good guy around…look at me when I'm talking to you."

Her brother had glanced away in the middle of her musing, and because of the height difference between them, there was little she could do manually do fix the problem. So she had to settle for punching his arm and continuing on.

"If that's what being Red is all about, then yeah…it should've been you."

"I bet no one's told you _that_ all day," she added when her brother's expression softened, just a smidge.

There was a sympathetic smile in her voice, the first he'd received since he became the Blue Ranger. Glancing over at her finally, Sky saw the smile wasn't just in her voice, but very evident on her face and in her eyes. The glower he'd tried to hold on to slipped away entirely—the midget always knew how to hit a soft spot. He slowed his stride so she could keep up at a more comfortable pace, but he didn't trust himself to speak just yet. Figures, the only time he got some sympathy, he didn't feel like he deserved it.

"Now before you go trouncing my forgiving spirit with superiority,"—impossible runt!—"let me finish my tirade. That might be what being Red means to you, but it seems Commander Cruger doesn't subscribe to popular culture. Red's a particular personality, not necessarily the best one or best of anything. And, lack of personality aside, I daresay the commander still likes you over Jack any day."

"You should've heard the dressing down he gave me the other day."

'What'd you expect, a slap on the wrist?"

"That would have been less humiliating."

"The surveillance cameras are catching all of this on record, aren't they?"

Damn! He'd forgotten about those, and the reason he was wandering around the halls at this hour in the first place. A giggle at his elbow earned another scathing glance.

"So you accidentally let an intergalactic demon lord into our galaxy, and afforded him a stockpile of fuel to boot when you didn't save the flashy rocks like you were supposed to. Big deal. Your head was in the right place when you saved something better—your teammates."

Sky raised an eyebrow at her. "How do _you_ know about all of that?"

"Easy. The aforementioned teammates. Their exact words, Sky? 'He saved our lives.' What's more precious than that?"

"What else would I do? That's what Rangers do." Her brother shrugged.

"It speaks volumes to one as perceptive as myself—"

"Are you trying to give me a compliment or mock me?"

"The former while doing the latter. You would never leave any of your teammates behind. You're like the protector, the team guardian, it's instinctive for you. That's why you can't be Red, because then the team would be behind you instead of in front of you, where you couldn't keep your eyes on them. And if it makes you feel any better, the next time Jack gets you guys into a mess, they'll be looking to you to jump out of the frying pan into the fire first."

Sky gave her a look that clearly said, _Huh?_

"Fine. Simpler version. Being best equals keeping others safe. You did yourself in there, doofus."

"So you do think I'm the best on the team then."

A sharp jab in the funny bone. "Pompous ass. Your hulking, hovering presence is the reason I never had a boyfriend. I should disown you."

"Go ahead and try. You know you have no time for consorting when you're so close to making B squad."

Ree rolled her eyes. "Unlike some people, I'm not after a shiny suit, and helmets make me look even shorter. Besides, aren't all the positions taken, anyway?"

Sky threw her a strange look. He knew the SPD Academy put out more than just Rangers, and it was true that all the SPD morphers presently had owners. But snippets of information here and there told him Ree was practically a shoo-in for B squad, and that kind of rank just didn't come from lack of motivation…or did it?

"Then why are you here, Ree?"

Her expression turned solemn, and for the first time in the night, it was she who glanced away first. "Because I'm the daughter of a man who couldn't imagine that his children would want anything other than to follow in his footsteps. Because a crimson legacy always shadowed any merit I might have earned in my life. Because I wanted my father to pay attention to me. But most importantly," she put a hand on his arm and paused mid-step, forcing him to halt as well. Her gaze traveled upward to meet his.

"Most importantly, I'm here because you needed a babysitter to make sure you don't do any _really_ stupid things. Like think you don't need any friends."

_Smack._ He let her have one in the shoulder and promptly left her behind with long, crisp strides.

Ree watched her brother stalk off without her, one step, two, three, four…five, six…halt. She hid a smirk when he turned around.

"That's not why you came here tonight is it, Ree."

"But it is, Sky. Your long-time ambition got you in trouble, and I didn't want you to think there was no way out."

"You can't think I can get out of this."

Ree smiled. "Night watch, no. But not having friends? I think that's reparable."

The look on her brother's face told her she'd reached the limit for tonight. Any more heart-to-heart business and he would just shut down.

"Trust me when I say they won't want to stop pestering you and driving you mad when they get to know you. It's too fun, and I do say _'when'_."

Sky just snorted and started to turn away, already shutting her out. But the temporary profile view she had of him reminded her of something she'd meant to bring up.

"You know, Sky, in the world of social creatures, pestering is a sign of affection."

"Good _night_, Ree."

Ree grinned, knowing her brother would figure out the comment sooner or later, but not soon enough for her taste. Why not give him a hint? She reached into her pocket, withdrew a small object, and lobbed it at her brother. It bounced off his shoulder, a shiny not-so-subtle reminder, and he pivoted, an extremely irritated look on his face.

"Ree, cut it—" he glanced down at the object. It was a colorless, multi-faceted crystal, obviously very cheap costume jewelry. What _was_ it with people throwing gems at him lately?

_Pestering is a sign of affection._

"Ree!"

But his sister had already turned her back and was skipping away, a glittering pink forcefield her only reply.


End file.
